Gkikas, as in Chris Gkikas.
In a somewhat panicked tone this morning, Idoia asks me for help from the living room. I drop what I’m doing and hustle out to hear her expressing kitty-level concern for a small bird that had fallen outside our patio. I picked this little dude up and encouraged him to stand on his own. 10 minutes later, he flew from one short shrub to another, and Idoia was satisfied that he was going to make it. What is it lately with me and animals?
The tree in front of our house blooms like this. No leaves, just flowers. It’s beautiful.
In unrelated news, I’ve heard back from one of my oldest friends, Mike. We haven’t spoken in probably 7 years, I’m guessing. Out of the blue i get an email from him, and we’re planning on having the inevitable marathon chat soon. Seems like all sorts of things are abloom.
These are from, kid you not, my first time playing out. It was in Berlin a few years ago, at a historic bar about a block from Checkpoint Charlie near the Wall. It’s called The Oscar Wilde Bar and was the first place people would go to have a “free” beer in West Berlin. It was full of posters plastered to the ceiling, exceptionally friendly people (we met people from all over that night) and a singer on an electric-acoustic doing crowd-pleasing singalong stuff. I had enough beer (the best stuff, called Kilkenny) to be cajoled into getting on stage and doing a few covers in front of complete strangers. Seriously, this happened, and it was awesome. What a great memory.
The setlist:
I insisted, and still do, that I sounded like complete shit. The people I was with said it was awesome, but I think they were just being nice.
